Author's Note: Hello, hello, friends! Welcome to my first HTTYD multi-chap fanfic! I've written quite a few oneshots for HTTYD, and I really wanted to do a multi-chap fanfic. So when Race to the Edge rolled around, I finally got the inspiration I needed to write one big story! This fanfic takes place right after the RTTE season 2 finale, "Maces and Talons, Part 2," so if you haven't seen RTTE, beware of spoilers! I'll try to update this weekly along with my second ROTG fanfic so that both stories get enough attention. So without further ado, here is Race to the Dragon Eye!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to the How to Train Your Dragon franchise.

Chapter 1

Tension was as clear as the night sky as the Dragon Riders flew from Viggo Grimborn's base back to the Dragon's Edge. All that could be heard was the rolling of the waves in the vast ocean down below and the flapping wings of the six respective dragons. No one, not even Snotlout and the twins dared to speak as they followed their leader, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third and his Night Fury, Toothless back to their base. Although, not even returning to the base was enough to make Hiccup feel better in the slightest, especially not after what they just went through tonight. It took everything Hiccup had in him not to let out another ear-piercing scream as he closed his eyes tightly bracing himself for the memories that flooded through his mind, especially Viggo's parting words when he and Toothless were paralyzed by the Flightmare's mist.

"You and your Night Fury played right into my hands. To be honest, I expected more. Hiccup Haddock the Third, I've enjoyed our time together. I do truly hope we are able to compete again."

With those parting words, the leader of the Dragon Hunters walked off…with the Dragon Eye leaving the teen and his dragon frozen in place. To say that it wasn't the proudest moment of Hiccup Haddock's young life was an understatement. He could not believe that he let Viggo get away with the Dragon Eye, the mysterious object he and Toothless found on the mysterious Reaper. They tried so hard for the past several months doing whatever they could to protect it from Dagur and the Berserkers, but unfortunately, once Dagur made an alliance with Ryker and the Dragon Hunters, protecting the Dragon Eye became far more difficult.

Then, once Viggo came out of the shadows, all their hard work suddenly became all for nothing, and it was all Hiccup's fault…at least that was what the Heir of Berk believed. Lately, it seemed as though that was all he was doing…making some huge mistakes that turned out to be very costly. He tried to outsmart Viggo, but in the end, Viggo outsmarted him. However, there was still one thing he spent almost the entire ride home to the Edge trying to figure out. What exactly did Viggo plan to do with the Dragon Eye? His mind flashed back to when he and Astrid spoke before they took off as he held the Viking King figurine from the Maces and Talons game.

Astrid pointed out that even though the Dragon Eye was in Viggo's clutches, it was useless without the Snow Wraith's tooth as the key. However, that still did nothing to make Hiccup feel better. Viggo certainly wouldn't have taken the Dragon Eye if there were no way to open it. If it was so useless now, and he knew it, why would he still want it? It didn't make any sense, but before Hiccup could answer his own question, the Dragon's Edge suddenly appeared on the horizon. They were finally home, but Hiccup still wasn't the slightest bit relieved as Toothless and the other dragons landed. The leader of the Dragon Riders surveyed the damage…done by the Dragon Hunters.

"Umm…Hiccup?" Fishlegs finally spoke up as Meatlug walked up to Toothless. "I-I know this wasn't a good night for us, but…" he gestured to the trashed base.

"I know, Fishlegs," Hiccup said giving his friend a small smile. He then turned to the other riders who were watching him and Fishlegs. "Alright, gang, let's just do as much cleaning as we can tonight and do the rest tomorrow."

For what was probably the first time ever, Snotlout and the twins didn't bother to complain. Whether it was because they didn't want to anger Hiccup further or because they were too exhausted, everyone immediately went to work around their respective huts, and soon enough, they made some progress in the cleanup. The gang said their good nights to each other and their dragons as they locked them up silently agreeing to talk about their latest defeat and their potential next move. Finally, Astrid was left alone with Stormfly in her pen.

The young warrior locked the door as she watched the Deadly Nadder settle down for a good night's sleep. "Get some sleep, girl," Astrid whispered to her dragon. "You had a long day."

As soon as Stormfly was fast asleep, Astrid finally brought herself to leaving her best friend in the pen. Ever since Ryker kidnapped her dragon, Astrid had done whatever she could to make sure her beloved Deadly Nadder never left her sight. When Astrid left the pen, she took one look at the full moon over the ocean one last time before moving to take the zip line back to her hut, but before she could do anything, she noticed something at Hiccup's hut. There was the Pride of Berk sitting on the platform outside his hut with Toothless. Just from the way he was sitting, Astrid could tell that he was still not completely over what happened tonight with Viggo, and honestly, Astrid couldn't blame him. She grabbed the nearest zip line and flew down to the boy and his dragon.

Once Astrid landed on the platform, Toothless perked up and scurried over to the young woman, who laughed and gently pet the Night Fury on the cheek.

"Good to see you, too, Toothless," she said. She then stopped once her blue eyes went to the hunched figure of Hiccup. As soon as she saw him, Astrid gave the Night Fury one last smile before walking over to her friend. "Is this spot taken?" she asked gesturing to a spot on the platform.

Hiccup answered by simply shaking his head.

Astrid furrowed her eyebrows together in concern, but she finally sat down next to Hiccup. "I meant what I said before," she said as soon as she was settled. "That Dragon Eye is completely useless without the key. There's nothing Viggo can do with it."

"I know, Astrid," Hiccup replied looking at the Snow Wraith tooth in his hand, "but I can't help but have this feeling that what happened tonight was the biggest mistake I ever made. There's no way Viggo would just take the Dragon Eye knowing that there was no way in Helheim to activate it. No…he knows something…something we don't about that thing. We just need to figure out what it is."

Astrid couldn't help but sigh and shake her head. If there was anything she knew about Hiccup, it was that once he knew he made a mistake or something went wrong on his watch, he would stop at nothing to set things right. That was definitely what he was already trying to do now. Nothing was going to stop him until the Dragon Eye was back in his hands.

"And if there is something, we will figure it out…together," Astrid finally said. "For now, let's just assume that Viggo just has a useless Dragon Eye and agree to hang back here, to get some rest, and to regroup in the morning."

Hiccup let Astrid's words sink in as he looked out on the ocean glowing under the full moon. He wanted nothing more than to hop on Toothless and set off to find Viggo…to undo his mistakes, but Astrid was right. They just lost the Dragon Eye to the Dragon Hunters, and it was going to take everything they had to get it back and to take out Viggo and the other hunters. All of them going after the same guys who just defeated them could get one or all of them killed…which was something that Hiccup wasn't willing to risk. Astrid had a valid point. They all went through quite a long battle, and they needed some rest before going after Viggo again. They were going to need all their strength if they were planning to go after the Dragon Eye again. The Heir of Berk finally looked Astrid in the eye.

"You're right," he finally said. "We can't afford any more mistakes with these guys. At first light, we can meet in the clubhouse to regroup."

Astrid smiled relieved that she was able to get through to him, and with a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder, she stood up and moved to get to her own hut leaving Hiccup alone with Toothless.

After a few more moments of looking out on the ocean, Hiccup finally sighed as he stood up and looked at the Night Fury, who stared at him with a little concern. The Dragon Trainer couldn't help but remember Toothless sounding very worried about his best friend while listening to him scream to high Valhalla after Viggo escaped. Hiccup gave his dragon a small reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, bud," Hiccup finally said patting Toothless on the head before leading him into the hut. "I'm okay, really. Let's just get some sleep. We're going to have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

Toothless crooned happily as he followed Hiccup into their makeshift home. Little did they know that Astrid was watching them from her own hut clearly making sure Hiccup didn't try anything to fix the whole thing with the Dragon Hunters. When she saw them completely disappear into their hut, she smiled to herself relieved that Hiccup might've listened to her advice after all instead of putting himself in grave danger. With that relief, she walked into her hut to get some sleep herself.

"You and your Night Fury played right into my hands. I expected more."

"But, Maces and Talons was designed to test the abilities and decision-making expertise of future chiefs in the heat of battle."

"He's daring me to play."

"I do truly hope we are able to compete again."

"How did I not see that?!"

"What have I done?"

"You see that? The future chief is a coward."

"I messed up. I really messed up, and I'm not sure how to fix it."

"Yeah, well, guess what, I'm not perfect."

Hiccup growled under his breath as he closed his eyes really tightly and clutched his ears…almost as if that would stop the voices in his head. However, no matter how hard he tried, it didn't work. The voices just continued to replay over and over again in his head giving him a splitting headache. All the mistakes, especially the huge loss from tonight, came back in full force all at once, and he couldn't take it anymore. He wasn't sure how long this has been keeping him up, but from what he could tell from opening his eye a crack, it had been a few hours since he decided to get to bed. The future chief of Berk growled again as he sat up in his bed. If there was one thing he knew for sure, there was no way he was getting to sleep tonight. He couldn't afford to sleep now. This was his mistake, and his alone. The last thing he wanted was to put the other riders in harm's way because of his messes, which was exactly why he needed to take care of this…tonight.

The leader of the Dragon Riders looked up at the Night Fury sleeping on the stone slab. He hated the idea of waking the sleeping dragon, but it had to be done. Hiccup then stood up and walked over to his best friend.

"Toothless," Hiccup said gently putting Toothless on the head. "Toothless, wake up, bud."

The Night Fury slowly opened his eyes and stared at Hiccup crooning in confusion.

"Sorry to wake you, bud," Hiccup said scratching him on the chin, "but we can't sleep tonight. We got to track down Viggo and get back that Dragon Eye."

Toothless widened his black eyes slightly before growling in determination at the mention of the leader of the Dragon Hunters.

Hiccup couldn't help but smile as he patted his Night Fury. "Thanks, bud," he said. "I like the determination. Come on, let's get your armor on and get moving."

As soon as the Heir of Berk got the Gronkle iron armor on his Night Fury, the two of them ran out to the platform. As soon as Toothless got out, he looked around expecting to see the other dragons and their humans waiting for him and Hiccup. However, when he saw that it was only him and Hiccup. Toothless crooned in concern. If they were going after Viggo, where were Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and the other dragons?

Hiccup came out of the hut with his shield ready to face the Dragon Hunters, but when he noticed the concerned look on his best friend's face, he sighed knowing all too well what Toothless was thinking. So he knelt down next to the Night Fury wrapping his arm around Toothless' neck.

"Sorry, buddy, but it's just you and me tonight," Hiccup said smiling. "It's my fault that Viggo has the Dragon Eye, and I refuse to put the other riders and dragons in danger."

Toothless hesitated for a moment but realized that Hiccup did have a valid point and that there would be no way to convince him otherwise. So, he crouched down allowing Hiccup to mount him. As soon as the boy's prosthetic leg clicked into the stirrup, the Night Fury took off into the night sky.

"Let's head for Viggo's base, bud," Hiccup told him as soon as they were in the air. "That was where we last saw them."

Toothless crooned in reply and turned in the direction toward the Dragon Hunters' island.

Author's Note: Well there's Chapter 1 for you guys! Hope you enjoyed it! Stay tuned for Chapter 2! Don't forget to leave a review! Thanks a lot, guys!